Celebrations Duo embossing folders

This is a fun product which won’t break the bank: Celebrations Duo Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. They’re on p40 of the Spring/Summer catalogue, tucked away at the top. Two folders, one spells “Happy” (as you can see) and one spells “celebrate”.

I’ve combined it with Marquee Messages to create a simple and bright card for my teenage nephew (not an easy audience, I’m sure you’ll agree!).

What’s particularly fun about these folders is that they deboss rather than emboss, which makes a change and also allows for some fun techniques, such as stamping around the image to create an outlined word, just as the Stampin’ Up!® designers have done for this project shown on p41...

Mix It Up Monday: Inside the Lines DSP

A simple project this week as we’ve all been under the weather this weekend, so I made this yesterday and then retreated to the settee with a poorly daughter and an opportunistic black cat. 

If you like colouring, you’ll love the new Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper. It’s part of the Sale-a-Bration promotion, which means you can, if you wish, choose it FREE with a £45 order.

It’s perfect for a colour challenge, as you can make it any colour you wish. So I thought I’d give it a go for this week’s Mix It Up Monday project, using another colour combination from my In Color charts.

This is a bright and cheery colour combination, which uses two of the latest set of In Colors; Emerald Envy and (my favourite) Dapper Denim. The Daffodil Delight IS there, it’s just not easy to see in the photo. The Stylized Birthday stamp makes the greeting the focus, and goes with just about everything, making it a useful addition to your stamp collection.  

Caturday: Beau

This is Beau, who belongs to the daughter of my downline, Patsy. However, he keeps going to Patsy’s house and sticking around, much to the annoyance of her other cats! He’s a beauty, isn’t he?

Hey Chick, with watercolour pencils

Some of the most popular new products are showcased here: Hey Chick, the gorgeous Sale-aBration set, the Dynamic Hexagons embossing folder (which goes with EVERYTHING) and the Watercolour Pencils, which are causing big ripples of excitement.

We’ll be using these pencils tonight at my February Hygge Night - the focus is on colouring.

And this DSP - Affectionately Yours - features the same colours as the SAB paper, Carried Away, which means you can use the same pack of cardstock!

Lift Me Up Make & Take

This is the lovely Make & Take from a party earlier this month, which uses the fab Lift Me Up bundle from the Spring/Summer catalogue, and the free Carried Away Designer Series Paper from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue.

And the clever people at Stampin’ Up!® have even made sure there’s a cardstock assortment that goes with it... it’s the Affectionately Yours one from p172 of the main catalogue.

The circle is cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits, a really useful and versatile addition to your craft stash. You won’t find them in any of our catalogues until June, but they are available to buy now, at £27, using the code 145372.

Mix It Up Monday: Lift Me Up

If you want to know what my kind of colours are, they are not these. These couldn’t be further from my taste if they tried. But, in the spirit of Mix It Up Monday and my bid to use every single colour combination from my In Color charts, I thought I’d better give it a go. 

I’ve seen some nice cards made with this set in subtle shades so they were my inspiration, but I can’t say I’m thrilled with my output. Great stamp set though, lovely dies… and nice colours if you like that sort of thing. 

Caturday: Sasha

It’s Caturday and today’s kitty is Sasha, another from the household of Patsy, my downline/friend. It’s rare to get a decent picture of Sasha, apparently, so I was quite chuffed to get this one of her looking directly into the camera.

Tasty Trucks Sale-a-Bration set

There’s a new product in town that I know lots of you are going to love: watercolour pencils. This is something many people have been requesting for a long time so it's very exciting that they are in the Spring/Summer catalogue.

I’ve used them on this project to colour the cute little van from Tasty Trucks. I coloured the image, then blended with a blender pen. You can also use them with aquapainters or a paintbrush, or simply leave them as they are.

You get 13 pencils in Stampin’ Up!® colours. But blink and you’ll miss them in the catalogue – many people have! Look out for them on page 24.

Hey Chick! Watercoloured and doodled...

Just a tiny card with a chicken on it. Watercoloured and doodled for maximum crafting fun. I do enjoy watercolouring and doodling; I find them both very relaxing, and I think this stamp set lends itself perfectly to both techniques.

The set, Hey Chick, is free during Sale-a-Bration with a £45 order. While I think it’s fabulous that we can earn such a gorgeous set for free, I kind of wish it was in the catalogue, so it would stick around longer. Because, after 31st March, this set will be gone forever! Don’t miss out!

Mix It Up Monday: Tasty Trucks

I’m quite excited about this Mix It Up Monday project, which began its life in Friday morning’s discussion with my friend Kelly. I’m impressed that I managed to make it work all by myself without a tutorial (I struggle with anything other than basic folds!), although the slider is a little tight and doesn’t return as easily as I’d like. 

So here we have a cute little van with cakes and the fun sentiment, “Happy Birthday, now where’s the cake?”

Pull out the slider and the cakes are being stolen by a cheeky goat. Yes, I love goats, too, just as much as llamas!

In fact, it was the llama which started it all, as we were hoping to squeeze a llama into the van from the Sale-a-Bration set, Tasty Trucks. When we realised it was too big, I dug out my Barnyard Babies set and the rest is history. 

As for the colour combination, it is no secret that I have a hate-hate relationship with Pêche Fraiche (I can’t even bring myself to say the English name) but I have to confess that this colour combination isn’t too bad. And if you’re wondering why you’re seeing so many Peach combinations on Mix It Up Monday recently, it’s because I’m rapidly working my way through the Peach combinations  from my In Color charts so I can wash my hands of them!